


A Juggling Act (It All Falls Down)

by TheDisneyOutsider



Series: Comfortember 2020 [9]
Category: Iron Man (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe, Spider-Man (Tom Holland Movies)
Genre: Disorganization, Fluff, Movie Night, Precious Peter Parker, Tony Stark Acting as Peter Parker's Parental Figure, Tony Stark is a mess
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-10
Updated: 2020-11-10
Packaged: 2021-03-08 19:22:05
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,216
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27481915
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheDisneyOutsider/pseuds/TheDisneyOutsider
Summary: Buried under a pile of paperwork Pepper needs him to get done asap, Tony forgets about his movie day with Peter. Not wanting to disappoint the kid, he attempts to do two things at once and gets himself in over his head.Comfortember, Day 9: Confession
Relationships: Pepper Potts/Tony Stark, Peter Parker & Tony Stark
Series: Comfortember 2020 [9]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1995802
Comments: 17
Kudos: 116
Collections: Comfortember 2020





	A Juggling Act (It All Falls Down)

**Author's Note:**

> Comfortember day 9!!!

_ Mr. Parker has arrived. _

FRIDAY’s voice startled Tony from the huge stack of papers sitting on his desk, the papers Pepper had threatened him with an inch of his life to look over before doing anything else, and that he hadn’t even gotten halfway through completing yet.

“Damn, I forgot I had plans with Peter today,” he spoke to himself, sighing as he prepared to tell the boy that they would have to reschedule. He would much rather spend the day hanging out with his kid, but there was no way he could leave the papers another day, he’d already procrastinated long enough.

“Hey, Tony! Sorry, I’m a little early but I figured if we are going to get through the rest of the Harry Potter films today, we better start early. There’s four more, and we still have, like, six hours to get through.”

Tony cringed, hearing the excitement in the kid’s voice, “Yeah, about that, kiddo, I—”

“OH, check this out! May and I baked these cauldron cakes we found on Pinterest, and they actually didn’t burn all that badly, and I brought ingredients to try making Butter-beer! I heard it’s really good! Sorry, what were you going to say?”

“Uh,” Tony paused, unable to look at the excited kid without feeling extremely guilty. Why didn’t he just get this work done when he was supposed to days ago? “Just that you should go upstairs and get set up, I’ll be there in a few minutes.”

Peter grinned and agreed, leaving Tony back in his office, kicking himself for not being honest. How was he going to make this work?

He stayed in his office for another ten minutes, working diligently, before deciding the kid would be looking for him soon. He set the paper he was working on down and walked towards the living room.

“I made popcorn too!” Peter informed Tony when he saw him enter, “We can eat it or throw it at Umbridge when she comes on screen. Whatever works best.”

“That’s great, Pete,” he forced a smile, trying to seem normal, “Are you ready to start?”

“Yep!” Peter hopped onto the couch, and waited until Tony did the same, snuggling close beside him when he did, “FRIDAY, play Order of the Phoenix, please.”

The movie promptly started, and Tony waited twenty minutes before beginning to shift, “Uh, I just need to go to the bathroom, Pete, I’ll be right back.”

“Oh, I’ll pause it!” Peter said, about to make the request.

“No, I’ll just be a minute, it’s fine, you can catch me up,” Tony was hoping that if the movie kept going, Peter would be too busy to notice if he was gone a few extra minutes.

He ended up giving himself fifteen minutes with his papers before reluctantly heading back to the kid. This method of working was definitely not ideal, and again he cursed himself for not just telling the truth from the beginning.

When he returned to the living room, Peter looked at him worriedly, “Are you okay, Tony? You were in there a long time...”

“Oh,” Tony had nearly forgotten that his cover was a trip to the bathroom, “Yeah, must have just eaten something bad earlier.”

Peter blanched, “Was it the cauldron cakes!?”

Tony nearly laughed at the kid’s expression, “No, it wasn’t. It hurt before I ate the cake, and I feel fine now, so why don’t we just continue watching, what did I miss?”

He listened to the detailed explanation while continuing to watch the screen, but after another fifteen minutes, he checked his watch again, becoming nervous with how late it was getting.

“You want sandwiches for dinner? I’ll go make some,” he offered, glancing at the kid who looked cozy wrapped under a blanket.

“Sure, I’ll help you!” Peter offered, and Tony had to think quickly.

“Actually, do you mind... running down to the common floor kitchen to get more drinks? Clint has root beer down there, and my kitchen’s all out.”

That wouldn’t buy him as much time as he would have liked, but he had to think fast.

“Okay, I’ll be right back!”

As soon as the kid was out of sight, Tony bolted it back to his office, commanding FRIDAY to order sandwiches to be delivered from the deli down the street, before throwing himself back into his papers.

He hadn’t realized how long he had been until he heard FRIDAY not only announce the arrival of their food but heard Peter’s fist rapping softly on the office door.

“What are you doing in here?” Peter furrowed his brow in question, “I came back and you weren’t in the kitchen. FRIDAY said you ordered the food instead and that you were in here?”

“I—” Tony paused, mad at himself for getting caught. He sighed, it was time to give up the act, this whole thing was too exhausting and it wasn’t beneficial for either end he was trying to please. “I’m sorry, kiddo. I have to confess something to you.”

Peter nodded, looking apprehensive about whatever his mentor might say next.

“It’s nothing bad... it’s just, I forgot about our plans today, and Pepper’s been on me all week to get this paperwork done. I slacked and left it until the last minute, and when you came I felt bad and didn’t tell you. So I’ve been trying to get this done behind your back, while not disappointing you and ruining the day you had planned for us.”

Tony felt horrible, bracing himself for Peter’s upset face.

Instead, Peter smiled, and that was definitely not the reaction Tony had been expecting at all, “Are you serious. Why didn’t you just tell me?”

Tony waved his hands around, flustered now, “I mean, you came in here with that disgustingly adorable face, and you were so excited! How could anybody disappoint that?”

Peter outright laughed now, “You’re ridiculous, I wouldn’t have been mad! I could have helped you! Then we probably would have still had time for a movie or two even!”

Tony eyed the boy, annoyed with how logical he sounded, “Quit being so mature, kid, you’re making me look bad.”

“Well, in this instance you weren’t thinking very maturely, Tony. Actually, you were totally doing something I would have done! And if I had you would have totally told me what I just told you! Oh my God, we’ve reversed roles! I still look like myself, right? We didn’t switch bodies too? Obviously not, because you still look like you, but man!”

“And there’s the immature kid I was looking for,” Tony chuckled.

“Seriously though, you can be honest with me next time, okay?”

“Yeah, I get it, I get it,” Tony waved his hand in surrender, “So, uh, kid, I’m sorry but I’m going to have to cut our movie day short.”

“No problem,” Peter smiled, walking to the door.

“So I’ll see you next week?” Tony questioned, feeling sad to see the boy go.

“Oh, I’m not leaving,” Peter clarified, turning back to the man, “I’m just going to make us that Butter-beer. We have a long night ahead of us getting this done! We’ll need refreshments!”

Tony smiled, not quite understanding how he got so lucky with a kid like Peter, “Thanks, kiddo.”

**Author's Note:**

> Thank you to everyone who has been following along with this challenge so far! All your comments have been making my month! :)


End file.
